Time to capture while forcing flash to fire, zoom lens at medium focal length.

Manual Focus

0.265 second

For most cameras, shutter lag is less in manual focus than autofocus, but usually not as fast as when the camera is "prefocused".

Prefocused

0.022 second

Time to capture, after half-pressing
and holding shutter button.

The Canon G5X's full autofocus shutter lag when shooting the same target multiple times was a bit slower than average for a fixed-lens enthusiast camera these days. The G5X's full AF shutter lag tested at about 0.27 second at wide angle using center (1-point) AF, and about 0.26 second at full telephoto. That's fairly quick, however most competitors in this class are faster. Enabling the flash raised shutter lag to 0.56 second, to account for the metering preflash. Manual focus shutter lag was not significantly faster than full autofocus at about 0.27 second. When prefocused, though, shutter lag dropped to only 22 milliseconds which is very fast.

Cycle Time (shot to shot)

Single Shot modeLarge Super Fine JPEG

0.87 second

Average time per shot.

Single Shot modeRAW + LSF JPEG

1.95 seconds

Average time per shot.

Early shutter
penalty?

No

Some cameras don't snap another
shot if you release and press the shutter too quickly in Single Shot
mode, making "No" the preferred answer.

Shot-to-shot cycle times were fair to slow in single shot mode, ranging from about 0.9 second for Large/Super Fine JPEGs to about almost two seconds for RAW+LSF JPEG files. We no longer test just RAW file cycle time in single-shot mode, as it's usually somewhere in between JPEG and RAW+JPEG.

The PowerShot G5X's fastest full-res continuous shooting mode rate tested below average these days at 7.6 frames per second for Large/Super Fine JPEGs, however that's faster than Canon's 5.9 frames per second spec. Be aware that focus and exposure are locked at the first frame of a burst in this mode, though. Like other Canon compacts, when shooting RAW files the G5X slowed down to a crawl, at only 0.75 frames per second for just RAW files, and only about 0.6 frame per second for RAW+LSF JPEG files.

In Continuous AF mode, Canon says the frame rate drops to about 4.4 fps, which is probably only for JPEGs (it is likely much slower with RAW files), however we did not test that mode in the lab.

Buffer depth was shallow at only 8 frames before the camera slowed down when shooting best quality JPEGs in the fastest continuous mode, but keep in mind our target was designed to be difficult to compress, so buffer depth is likely deeper with typical scenes. Buffer depths were essentially limited only by card capacity for RAW and RAW+JPEG files, however that's not a surprise given the slow frame rate. Buffer clearing was swift with a fast 95MB/s UHS-I card, never taking more than 3 seconds in our tests.

The built-in flash took an average of 3.1 seconds to recharge after a full-power discharge, which is pretty good.

Battery

Battery LifePoor battery life.

Operating Mode

Number of Shots

LCD Monitor
(CIPA standard)

210

Electronic Viewfinder
(CIPA standard)

215

The Canon PowerShot G5X uses a custom NB-13L rechargeable lithium-ion battery for power, and ships with a dedicated charger. CIPA battery life is well below average for its class at only 210 shots per charge when using the LCD and 215 shots with the EVF, though there is an Eco mode which improves battery life to a more competitive 320 shots when using the LCD (there's no improvement mentioned in the user manual when using the EVF) by dimming and then shutting off the display more quickly than normal in shooting mode. Still, we strongly recommend you pick up a spare battery for extended outings.

The table above shows the number of shots the camera is capable
of (on a fully-charged rechargeable battery as appropriate), based on CIPA
battery-life and/or manufacturer standard test conditions.